Abstract
Tissues from subcutaneous lymphosarcomas and regional lymph nodes were examined by light and electron microscopy and by lectin histochemistry. Tumors were composed of two major cell types: small lymphocytes with few organelles and pleomorphic histiocytic cells with undulant surfaces, large numbers of cytoplasmic vacuoles, and many mitochondria with large crystalline inclusions. A large gram-positive coryneform bacterium was isolated from tumor nodules but was not identified morphologically in tumor tissues. Evaluation of sections of tumors with lectins as histochemical probes revealed three staining patterns: 1) lectin labeling histiocytic cells only (wheat germ, succinylated-wheat germ, Phaseolus vulgaris and soybean agglutinins); 2) lectins labeling histiocytic, interstitial and some lymphoid cells (concanavalin A, and Pisum sativum, Lens culinaris, and Ricinus communis I agglutinins); and 3) lectins failing to label any cell (peanut, Sophora japonica, and Ulex europaeus I agglutinins). In the lymph node, macrophages were labeled by lectins of groups 1 and 2; interdigitating reticular cells were labeled by group 2 lectins. Lectin staining of histiocytic cells in tumor tissues suggested that these were reactive cells and that lymphoid cells were the primary neoplastic component.